Is this new position good?

[jhill7000]

Hey everyone, I just recently was promoted from help desk to Telecom Admin. The promotion means I’ll be administering a Nortel Meridian 1, Norstar and BCM phone switches as well as administering all Cisco switches, firewalls, and routers. I’ll basically be the network security guy and phone guy. I’m thinking that this is a better position than my peer which will be the server guy. We’re a windows shop and that’s all he’ll be doing is a windows admin. I keep hearing about how there is not many people who know both data and voice. Also, I’m starting my Masters in Information Systems with a concentration in security, at a nationally accredited university, this spring and should be out at the end of next spring. How much do you think that will help? Basically I want to know if I am positioning myself in the best way to maximize my growth. I would eventually like to start consulting, management is looking more and more like it’s not my cup of tea.

Thanks ahead of time for your comments.

 

[tomed]

It sounds like a good position with some opportunities for you. I don't know that I'd call it "better" than your peer's server admin job. It may be better for you and the direction you want to go with your career though.

What sort of consulting do you want to get into? I would think you would need server experience along with your current experience if you are talking about network security consulting.

 

[jhill7000]

I agree, I was originally worried that I would be pigeon holed into an exclusively non server role. I will be his backup. In cases of his absence I will assume his responsibilities. However, that doesn’t give me the day in day out experience. I do need at least some server experience. I am very close to an MCSE but those are becoming paper dragons. I would like to get into Security consulting. Any other idea’s on ways to go for my goal?

 

[aarenot]

Check out avaya university if you are looking into knowing voice and data. Start out with some free training on some non-IP phone systems like the partner ACS. Avaya is probably the leader in convergance technology, and has one of the most well rounded knowledge bases, their R&D history goes back to Alexander GB, and forward to the most implemented IP telephone systems of anyone out there. Their partner ACS is probably the most implemented system in the world, start with them.

You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.

 

[pansophic]

I would not waste my time learning anything about the Partner unless there was a need to use it. The technology is as proprietary as the Meridian and Norstar and won't apply except in some very generic ways. Avaya training is only good for Avaya products. You don't have any, so anything that you learn would be wasted.

There is a Nortel forum on Tek-Tips as well. It is not as busy as most of the Windows forums, but there is good information there.

If you are serious about wanting to get into the security consulting arena, then you should spend some time at SANS' website.

http://www.sans.org

The CISSP is the defacto security certification.

http://www.isc2.org

pansophic

 

[aarenot]

panasophic,
You are right about the knowledge of the partner system itself. If there are training resources on the systems you have in place, that would be a better route. Some basic training on non-IP phone systems would benefit anyone with a data background going into telecom admin. Non-IP is the place to start for a data person.
90% of what a data person needs to learn when taking on telecom duties will be covered in non-IP phone system training and experience. Do not forget about voice mail systems, as most phone and voice mail systems are seperate and then integrated together via various interfaces.
The key things to remember about voice are, the voice acceptable performance is about seven 9's(up there near "God given right"), voice systems have less redundancy than data.

You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.

 

[pansophic]

I'd have to disagree on the redundancy of voice networks. Once you get out of the EKS market and into the PBX market, nearly all of the major manufacturer's systems are fully redundant with all central processing and network transport. The only piece of hardware that isn't redundant is the linecard (supports the user's telephone). And that is certainly true of Class V and Class IV central offices.

You are correct about the high reliability of voice systems, but the highest figure that I have ever seen quoted (but has only been theoretically achieved, is 5 nines (99.999% uptime). That equates to about 15 seconds of (unanticipated) downtime per year.


pansophic

 

[aarenot]

Pan,
I am going to assume that you know the redundancy of data systems better than I do. So, I will take your word for it that voice systems including the phone systems jhill mentioned do not have less redundancy to the desk top than data systems.
As far as the seven 9's, that is what I said the expectations are, not what is consistantly achievable. I agree, five 9's is something I would never consider acheivable for almost any system, voice or data. A failed hard drive, a failed upgrade, it all adds up, and if we tracked actual downtime, or delay in capability, not just reported or experienced inability, regardless of service request at the moment, I think we would all be suprised.
I was speaking of expectations of voice, which are very demanding, no one cares why the call did not go through, especially if the call is an "emergency" . People have learned to deal with delays in data, or having to hit send/recieve again because of an error, or an email coming back occassionaly as undelivered. People have not for the most part learned to deal with having a voice mail in their mailbox without having a message waiting light within 5 minutes.

You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.

 

[jhill7000]

Two questions?

Is there any tutorial or website that would give a good overview of non-IP telephony?

How much would not having official server experiance hurt me? I deal a great deal on my home server with Linux and I am close to getting MCSE but I know that real world experiance is the only true test. So how bad would I need that?

 

[pansophic]

I don't know of any sites off hand. Cisco used to have reasonably good documentation on different leased-line circuits, but that is OBE now with VoIP taking over.

Another reference, that I hate to recommend, is Mike Sandman's site. Not really a reference, but he has a lot of mostly accurate information about circuits, USOC codes, etc.

http://www.sandman.com

http://www.sandman.com/telhist.html

The second link is to his history page, which has links to other documents that may be of interest. Most of the stuff is so old that I hardly remember it though.


pansophic

 

[mikeydidit]

You can pick up a lot from the Nortel site and with a little Googling, I am sure that you can find some more. Most all the major players are pushing VoIP as their newest platforms, but most of the people out their still have traditional PBX's. It would be good to learn the switch you have and what path your next upgrade will take you.

The next for myself, will be off-board processors (servers) but I have an Avaya switch. With a few calls to your PBX vendors they can point you toward the next path.

With voice and data experence, you should be able to go far...



Mikey

 

[jhill7000]

Thanks everyone. I've definately learned alot from this board. I will peruse the Nortel site for information.